More than 250 participants experienced the unique, highly focused 2007 National Soybean Rust Symposium in Louisville, KY. This year's symposium examined the disease from virtually every angle. In addition to opportunities to network and explore new areas of investigation, participants appreciated and actively engaged in important presentations, posters and discussions. Special thanks to all of the presenters, sponsors, and technical committee members who helped make this program possible.

Organizing CommitteeRepresentatives from academia, government and industry were involved in the development of the symposium.

Symposium Report Compiled notes and discussions on each general and concurrent session, available for review and distribution. Volunteers were pre-assigned to record key points in every session. These notes are not a complete record of the comments made by individuals, but convey a general sense of the discussions that took place.

Photos from the symposium in Louisville, Kentucky

Growers, consultants, researchers and industry representatives appreciated the opportunity to network during the 2007 National Soybean Rust Symposium. Posters were on display during the meeting, seen here in the background.

2007 National Soybean Rust Symposium coordinator Ray Schneider opened the event with a brief historical overview and reviewed the focus for this year's meeting.

Nearly 60 posters were on display during the entire meeting providing ample time for participants to view and discuss new research findings with authors.

Audience participation was strongly encouraged throughout the meeting with time for questions and answers after every session. Bob Kemerait, University of Georgia, posed a question to the presenters of the first general session.

Questions about disease control were asked to the presenters during a panel discussion at the end of the session; addressing the audience is Eric Tedford, Syngenta.

Dr. Farias Neto, Embrapa Cerrados, provided a recap of the situation in Brazil in 2007 and updated the audience on research they are currently conducting.

More than 30 presentations were delivered during the meeting providing a wealth of new information. Pictured here Les Szabo, USDA-ARS, discussed spore trapping technology and results from 2007.

In addition to the posters, three special demonstrations were available during the meeting. Pictured here is Scott Isard, Penn State, showing attendees their soybean rust spore deposition animation.

Participants had the opportunity to attend concurrent sessions in the evening, to hear first hand perspectives from those who experienced soybean rust in 2007 as well as recent policy and outreach efforts.